Routine
by Starza
Summary: Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you... Albel x Fayt


**Title:** Routine  
**Rating:** PG  
**Pairing:** Albel/Fayt  
**Genre:** General  
**Warning:** End game spoilers  
**Summary:** Sometimes, the answer is right in front of you...  
**Prompt:** Post-game day-in-the-life type story, with characterization over smut  
**Author's Notes:** For yaoi challenge community on LJ, 2007. Not really one of my better works.

This story wasn't supposed to be put anywhere since the writing is sub-par, but since I'm running out of areas to put it in, I might as well post here. Yes, Road is finally being worked on since like a year and a half passed (I did warn people about my bad habit, but yeesh… )

Not beta-read.

* * *

Sometimes, Fayt wished that just once, he could predict what Albel would do.

For Fayt, everything had to be in some sort of order. Wake up, brush your teeth, wash up, eat breakfast and go on with the day's plans. Fayt was in no way one of those people who would follow a schedule down to every little detail, but sometimes, a schedule was good to have. Especially when jumping from planet to planet, sometimes stopping on planets that had a few tourist spots and only certain places were open at certain hours.

However, Albel was the complete opposite and almost never followed any sort of schedule.

On some days, Albel would be up when it was still dark, practicing his sword motions in the early hours of dawn. Or there were days where Albel would sleep well past when the sun was since long up. Sometimes, Fayt found him reading one of the books that he had picked up shopping before. Or sometimes, Albel would be fiddling with something in the hotel room that didn't exist on Elicoor. Or Albel would be just gone and wouldn't turn up for several hours at a time, never elaborating on where he went.

Whenever Fayt complained about Albel's lack of any type of schedule, Albel would complain back to Fayt about how predictable he was, from the moment he got out of bed to the moment he went to bed.

"There is a time where you're nearly unpredictable," Albel had said one day after another argument about schedules and routines.

"And when is that?" Fayt had asked, his hand on his hip.

Albel motioned to where Fayt's sword was. "Those are the only moments when I sometimes can't predict what you do."

"So it all comes down to battling again?"

"You asked me a question, I answered it," Albel answered simply and went back to polishing his sword.

"There's more to life than just fighting, you know," Fayt murmured under his breath, crossing his arms. Albel snorted in response and continued to clean his sword, having no intention to continue the conversation. "Doesn't not following any type of schedule bother you? Doesn't it bother you when you go to a store only to find it closed because you were somewhere else and had you planned ahead, you would've arrived on time and gotten what you wanted?" When Fayt got no response, he continued. "Don't you have any sort of plans for the future? Don't you ever see yourself a year or two down the line? Don't you have any goals in your life? Don't you ever wonder..."

"Don't you ever get tired of asking one hundred questions?" Was Albel's reply, dripping of sarcasm. "Now if you're done, mother, I'd like to finish here in peace and quiet."

But Fayt was determined to get an answer. "So you don't see yourself in the future or have any long-term goal?"

Throwing the rag he was using in the corner, Albel stood up and placed his sword back in his sheath. "I'm going out for a while."

He felt the swordsman brush past him and heard the door to their room open. Fayt turned around. "Albel! You didn't answer my question!"

"The answer is right in front of you, fool," Albel said and slammed the door shut. Frowning and knowing that the subject was closed for now, Fayt went to check his list on the supplies they needed before they headed out again.

For a while, neither one of them spoke to one another, which was typical when they had gotten into a fight ('_Well, at least I can predict one thing about Albel's behavior'_, Fayt thought). After a few days, they began talking to one another again as if the conversation the other day never happened.

However, Fayt stubbornly still thought about the conversation as they walked through the plains to get to the next small village. '_The answer is right in front of me? What does he mean by that? Does that mean he has a goal but doesn't want to share it? Or is fighting his 'goal' in life. He does practice quite a bit, even on planets with little to no hostile activity. Even still, he should have a better goal than just fighting constantly, but he wouldn't be Albel otherwise... Why does he always have to be so cryptic with his answers?'_

"Watch out!"

The wind was knocked out of Fayt's lungs at being pushed so suddenly to the ground. When Fayt looked up, he expected to see an enemy or some sort of hostile beast, despite them being on a planet with very little activity (According to the surveillance equipment on Fayt's small ship). When he saw nothing but a few shrubs, he glared up at Albel.

"What the heck was that for!?"

"Why don't you look ahead, idiot, and see where you were going!"

Fayt's retort died on his lips as he looked ahead at the fairly large hole only a few feet ahead of them. _'Just a few more steps and I would've fell...'_

"Next time, watch where you're going before you decide to get angry!"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," Fayt said, brushing the dirt off his face.

"Maybe if your head wasn't in the clouds all the time..."

"Hey, I said I was sorry. I was thinking about something, okay!?" Fayt yelled back.

"Oh, tell me, what was so important that you decide not to watch what is in front of you!? What would've happened if it were monsters instead? Or perhaps a large beast that was in a foul mood? What if you fell down that hole and it was deep enough to break your neck should you have fallen? Or perhaps it leads to a lair of some monsters instead?"

"Okay, okay, I get the point already!"

"Humph..." Was all Albel said before he started off again, leaving Fayt to catch up to him. Fayt watched Albel, who was scanning the surrounding area, as if anything were to leap out at any given time. Fayt managed to keep up to him, juggling between thinking and being cautious, even though he knew nothing was out there and not wanting to anger Albel any further.

_'He always looks straight ahead. There's no hostile wildlife in this area, yet he still looks as if anything could come out. He probably knows that, but yet he looks around still...'_

"Maybe... Maybe it's okay not to have a long-term goal... As long as you keep looking straight ahead of you and keep going forward, maybe... maybe that's okay..."

"Or maybe I just want to make sure you don't accidentally fall down any holes, because that would be a wasteful death. I won't have you die by falling down a hole or getting eaten by a monster."

"Because you're the one who has to kill me?"

"Humph..." Fayt grinned. Maybe Albel wasn't as unpredictable as he thought.


End file.
